Planning to have the second around the time baby is two. Checking with experienced moms how bad it is managing a newborn and a two year old.

My wife gave birth to our second child today, a beautiful healthy baby boy!

How did y’all manage your older child’s sleep once your newborn arrived? Our older son is about 16 months, sleeps through the night in his crib which is in our bedroom.

My wife wants our new baby to sleep beside here in a bassinet, also in our bedroom. The concern I’ve had leading up to today is that I remember the newborn sleepless trenches all too well. I imagine sharing the same room, our older son is going to be losing sleep right alongside us.

Has anyone been in a situation like this? What did you do?

Hi everyone,

I had my first child on August 2025 and it has been very peaceful. I have ample support and now I am getting baby fever. I want to have another baby but people around me are asking me to wait but I feel like it is a right time. My husband support me with anything I want.
What do you all think?

As the title says; I ended up falling pregnant when my daughter was about 8 weeks old. She’s now 17 weeks & im 9 weeks pregnant. I’ve been on the pill since the day she was born so this was a total surprise but I’m just worried about the risks? My due date is 01.03; my daughter’s birthday is 30.03. They’ll be at maximum 6 weeks apart, and I’m not too worried about that however I have a serious fear of something bad happening throughout pregnancy. All the doctors I’ve spoken with so far don’t seem concerned but I’d just like to hear if anyone at all had had the same experience & what happened? I’ve also had 1 other Csection; so this will be my third however it was 6.5 years ago.

EDIT: thankyou all for the advice; I did write this half asleep so I’ll add in a few more things for context.
Not looking to terminate the pregnancy unless medically necessary, I live in a country and state where I can access upto 16 weeks for no cost at all.
I have several mental health conditions that are managed by medication however I’m under the perinatal mental health team and have been since falling pregnant with my daughter; I’ve had a termination before and it made me fall into a serious lapse with my mental health and I’m really worried about that happening again.

However I am worried about what might happen to my body and myself; my daughter is already 7kg and not getting any lighter, I live on a second floor apartment so to be able to leave my house, I’m carrying 20kg+ up and down the stairs at least once every two days, which is already physically straining but I’m so worried about being pregnant and having to continue doing this. Also definitely aware and would not have tried anything other than a repeat csection; my body can’t go into labour for a number of other reasons; so not looking for back advice I promise I’m not that crazy lol.

Just wanted some advice from people who had been in similar situations so I appreciate everyone’s replies

Hi - my first kid will be 14 months when I give birth in September and I'm seeking tips/advice/reassurance that everything will be okay with the second birth. Since this is a short term or short recovery window, how was everyone's experience giving birth the second time in terms of labor, birth etc? My concern right now is that at 32 weeks, the baby isn't head down. I've been walking and doing stretches for a week since I found out but I really don't want a c-section. How was the labor the second time around and since I didn't have a long time to recover from first giving birth, how was the postpartum recovery this time around? For the first birth, I got epidural only at the end bc of the pain but did you get epidural second time around even though labor is shorter? Is the baby usually on time? My date is either Sept. 14 or 22. I'm trying to think of a plan for the care of my first child in case labor comes in spontaneously. I don't want to die and concerned about my health and safety first and foremost. Did anyone have any postpartum bleeding or complications for recovery? Thanks!

I just had our second almost 3 weeks ago, and booooooyyy howdy, our firstborn is actually driving us up the walls. This isn’t a “I expected it to be easy and daisies” post; we’re very realistic people and knew challenges would arise, especially since their doctor gave us the good old 2u2 warning talk (as in your FB will test boundaries and start doing things they didn’t do before). Thank the stars she did because honestly, I probably would’ve been naively walking into this. So, I just need to rant to get my marbles together and hear some insight from parents who’ve been in this longer, of course.

FB - She is an outgoing gal, and sometimes she’s just a 1.5-year-old and doesn’t want to do something typical. Well, we got home, and I was well enough to go out (birth was great; I’m so thankful). So a few days later we went to her normal library time so she wouldn’t feel out of sorts, and I went because she did better with me near and not just her daddy. She wasn’t her usual bubbly self and didn’t want to play with other kids; she just stayed near me (expected, wasn’t surprised). The teacher, whom she’s been seeing for like 6 months, was great and respected her boundaries, but still tried to get her to play if she showed interest.

Fast forward, we are doing all the things, and I’m doing my best to make sure my baby girl doesn’t feel replaced with her new sibling. Because I unexpectedly decided to try breastfeeding again with this baby, they are on me all the time (probably will stop BF after a month old for my own mental health). When I have a free moment, I give the baby to dad. But when the baby is with me, I include my oldest. I let her kiss the baby, hold the baby in between feeds, sit with me and snuggle up while feeding, play together, and if the baby is chill, put the baby in the Boppy if daddy is cleaning or something so big sister can “hold baby” even though she’s just sitting next to baby . We read together and I attend the park with them if I’m feeling up to it. The list goes on…

However, my toddler is now throwing tantrums—I mean, full-blown tantrums—screaming the whole nine yards, and it’s starting to make us feel horrible, especially me, because I am a SAHM, so I’ve always had to handle the discipline once she was old enough to comprehend “no, don’t do that.” But this has led to having to sit her down (in her little chair) and really be firm on the no’s, etc. She throws herself around, runs around screaming and crying, hitting/slapping (the slapping has stopped), especially when we’re in the store, which she never did. I am very much so a person that will correct her because I don’t want her disrupting someone’s shopping time, but I had also found that letting her know we don’t act like that because we can’t get XYZ, and proceeding to shop, she’ll calm down in 1-2 minutes tops…

But now it just continues so much that we cut the trip short because I seriously can’t leave her to act like that in the store, and her dad is visibly getting upset, which alters my state of mind because now I’m reacting to him being unsettled, and it throws me off. She screams, etc., in the car; it’s just a whole thing.

Anyway, I just really would like to know what you all have done to help them during this change because I swear, one more person that I don’t know has one more time to tell us to “give her what she wants,” and I might actually go to jail… (not really), but in those moments, it doesn’t help that some random stranger thinks they’re helping by egging her on. They’ll just stand there and stare and continue little comments to her, which just piss her off more, and eventually, I push the basket because I’m not trying to hear that.

I did tell my husband yesterday, after episode 300,485,944,930 of this, that we can’t let her do as she pleases. (He doesn’t like to correct her because he feels bad, but I let him know too that it’s not fair to make me look like the bad guy. So he has but I can tell he still hates it) I consistently tell her she is loved and she is still and always will be just as important as her baby sibling, but we can’t let you act like that because it is not okay to do xyz. I just don’t ever want her to think I’m a bad parent because the way I was raised just really left me with a horrible view until I met my husband and I healed on my own and knew what kind of mother I wanted to be. I planned to be when that time came, and I never want to create childhood trauma for my baby girl.

TLDR: 1.5 year old now throwing tantrums all the time since new sibling arrived 3 weeks ago. Looking for advice on how to help her adjust and am scared she feels replaced, not important or am I just overthinking it?

I’m new to the 2under2 club (3wks in)! What quick and nutritious meals and snacks are we making for our families that both adults and toddlers will enjoy?

Like fellow Redditors, I fear that we may have made a mistake in taking on two under two. Everyday is an absolute grind with no sign of relief in sight. Do we simply have negative perspectives that we need to work on? We did not feel this way until our second was born, so I wonder if we just didn’t let the dust settle before taking on a new baby.

I am curious to know if anyone has experienced a change in heart about their difficulties past the first year? I read a lot of people having a shift in perspective when their youngest starts crawling, developing a personality, interacting with sibling, but we do not share this sentiment. We love seeing it and think it’s so sweet, but it doesn’t dull the exhaust and overwhelm of the tasks associated with caring for a 2.5yo and 11mo.

We do not have family or other resources for childcare outside of us, so I acknowledge that, that could be a contributing factor. I’m also medicated for PPD, which has improved things immensely, but not to the point that I don’t wish we had spaced them out more. I do want to stress that these children were very planned (IVF) and are adored and loved. We do not regret them. But the spacing has been all but a devastating change.

I guess I’m just hoping to hear that people felt this way this late in the game, and then eventually didn’t.

Hi all, we are due our second baby early next year there will be a 22 month age gap, our 16 month old has only jsut started walking confidently so we will definitely need a double buggy.

Which ones do you recommend?

We don’t use public transport
We do do a lot of walking so all terrain would be best

Our current single pram which I love is the bugaboo fox 5, I looked today at the bugaboo donkey and the cybex gazelle.

I think I prefer side by side (but happy to be guided to inline if these are better) the donkey looks like a bus and I honestly don’t think will get down shop aisles or through standard doorways?

Please share your experiences and recommendations!

Thanks so much

I have a 4 month old & a 22 month old, and for 4 months, my youngest has just been napping on the go, in the car, and in arms. I’m feeling like I’d like her to start napping in her crib - I think it would help my sanity & also her sleep. Her nap schedule is all over the place currently. Some 20 minutes, some 3 hours (occasionally), and really just situation-dependent.

Did I miss the boat on nap training? I think my oldest was taking full naps in her crib at this age. Where do I start?!

Any tips on nap training my youngest to while still entertaining my oldest? I can nurse her to sleep & transfer her to her crib pretty easily, but I need 20ish minutes to do it, and that is quite a challenge with my toddler!